Pearl Harbor

Our morning started with everyone getting up at 0500. This is now close to 0600 and we are waiting for our tour van to pick us up:

So this is what Taylor does to pass the time(playing Monopoly on his cell phone):Is Skip working? NO, he too is playing games on his blackberry: Here is the line for Pearl Harbor around 6:45am:
Time now is 7:10 and the line is growing:
By the time 7:30 rolls around, people are now lining up to almost overlapping where we are standing:
Approaching the USS Arizona:

Entering the Memorial over the USS Arizona:This is the flag flying over the USS Arizona. Anyone can request to raise a flag over this Memorial, take a picture then will have the flag lowered to keep as a Memorial of the trip. During our time there, a veteran from WWII served in the Navy. He is 82 years old, dropped out of high school to enlist in the Navy to serve his country. His daugther told me their family had been saving for a long time to bring him to Pearl Harbor. Needless to say, it was a very moving moment for them and for me to be a witness to it.

This is a Memorial for the 25th infantry at Wheeler Army Air Field:
The Soldiers are represented as follows: The soldier to the far left represents the Vietnam war; the soldier to the middle back represents WWII; the soldier to the right represents the Korean War; and the middle soldier(bronze colored) represents the soldier from Iraq.

The symbol representing a fallen soldier:


Kim and Kora standing next to a helicopter used in the Korean war, can be seen at Wheeler Army Air Field:
Our tour was called 'Home of the Brave' Hawaii Victory Tour. We toured Pearl Harbor, Schofield Army Barracks, Wheeler Army Air Field, Fort Shafter, and Punchbowl National Memorial. The only places we were able to go walk around was Pearl Harbor, but we did have lunch at Wheeler Army Air Field. To tour all that we did and learn about the history of Pearl Harbor was pretty amazing. I do wish for everyone in their lifetime to be able to visit Pearl Harbor to honor those that lost their lives.

We returned to our hotel around 1:30, long day after such an early start, but so worth it. We do recommend you take this tour in order to bypass the very, very long lines. Yes, it is a little more costly so if you don't have to worry about your entire day, then take your time and do the tour on your own. As we left Pearl Habor, there were people in line still waiting to get in.
We are now relaxing to gear up for our New Year's Eve dinner out to PF Chang's! Skip and Taylor do not blend in as well with the diverse group of Asian and Hawaiin poplulation and tourists as us ladies do, but I think Skip is liking the state of Hawaii uh lut, uh lut. He wakes up, turns on the tv and it's football, football all day long! We are anxious to experience the fireworks display tonight, supposed to be awesome and we should be able to watch them sitting on our lainai's outside of our rooms, won't that be sa-weet! Cha! I will take pictures and hopefully catch some nice fireworks to share. Until then, since all of our families on the mainland will ring in the New Year way before we do, we wish everyone a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration. Party it up and celebrate the fact that you have your health, and the love and support of your families and great friends! May 2008 bring all that you wish for, all that you dream of, and all that you DARE to dream of! Aloha!

I forgot to add that it really is a small world after all, our tour guide, he and his wife(wife is Chinese and Philippino)he is 'white' and from the East coast, has lived in Hawaii for 30 years, they adopted their daugther from Korea 19 years ago. Not thru Holt, but still! His daughter is attending college at Willamette!! Everyone join me in singing, 'It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all...'